Hope
by MsBBSue
Summary: Raising children was never easy... but raising a daughter without a mother's guidance? Now that was hard. (AU; one of those Beth-gave-birth-to-Daryl's-baby-before-she-died stories)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Walking Dead series (both comic book and television), and I do not claim to own any of these characters other than my own original character. This is a story I have written and I am in no way, shape, or form making any sort of profit from it. I am poor. I might even be more so now having written this.**

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**Chapter One:**

"Eat up, baby girl," Daryl says as he places a small baggy of cookies in front of the little girl.

The child's cheeks pinch up as she holds the bag. She sticks her tongue out and makes a noise of disgust. "There's raisins in these, daddy," the little girl says with her face screwed up.

"Then pick 'em out," Daryl says with a shrug.

"I don't want 'em—,"

"Well, that's too bad, Annette, you gotta eat," he says as he lowers himself to the chair adjacent to her. The girl looks up at her father from beneath her brow. Daryl stretches his lower lip over his teeth as his thumb scratches beneath his nose as if to cover the smile he felt pulling at his lips. She looked just like her mother when she did that. "You do that any longer 'n' your face'll stay like that," he says making his daughter's crystal blue eyes bulge in fear.

Daryl shakes his head. "Come on," he says as he hunches over the table. "The faster you eat the longer you get to play outside with Judith." His brow rises as the little girl picks one of the cookies up and examines it. She gingerly bites down on it and as soon as her tongue touches the cookie she releases the sweet onto the table and shakes her head with her breathing raced.

"Daddy," she says quickly gasping with wide eyes. The six year old clutches her chest and rapidly shakes her head. "I can't eat it, daddy; I'll die!" Annette was dramatic—and Daryl wasn't sure how she ever turned out that way.

He takes a long breath and closes his eyes for a moment. "You're gonna make Carol sad," he says as a last attempt to make the girl eat. She watches her father for a moment as she looks down at the three cookies. "You don't wanna make her sad, do you?" he asks as he leans forward with wincing eyes.

Annette presses her lips together. "You could eat 'em," she says with a nod but Daryl shakes his head.

"She'll know if daddy ate them," Daryl says. "She'll smell it on my breath. Carol's got a nose on her like a dash hound," he lies. "Just eat two cookies—,"

"One," Annette says.

"One 'n' a half," Daryl negotiates. Annette's cheeks pinch up again and Daryl shakes his head. "She made 'em for you. You were the one who said raisin oatmeal when she asked what kind o' cookies you liked—,"

"Raisin oatmeal without the raisin," Annette corrects with her voice dropping. Daryl knew what the girl had said word for word because he was standing right next to her when Carol asked.

"Look," Daryl says as he takes the cookie that she dropped on the table. He carefully picks out the raisins and nods. "Raisin oatmeal without the raisin," he says and Annette shakes her head.

"Uncle Rick said not to eat things touched by dirty hands," she says as her wide eyes stare at her father's hands.

"They're clean—,"

"No, they're not," Annette says as her brow knits. "I can see the dirt on 'em—,"

"Annette," Daryl says sternly. "You're not leavin' the table 'til those cookies are gone."

"You said I could eat one 'n' a half—,"

"I changed my mind," Daryl says with his patience running thin. He takes a deep breath and sighs. He thought looking after a baby was difficult but it seemed the more they learned, the more advanced the arguments got and the harder parenting got.

"You need to start listenin', baby girl," Daryl says after a moment. His eyes look down as Annette pulls out a half chewed raisin from her mouth. "When I say somethin' you do as I say. You can't keep arguin' with me. I'm your dad; you don't do that." Annette wipes her lips as a piece of raisin sits on the corner of her mouth. "Does Judith talk back to Uncle Rick?"

"No," Annette spits with her eyebrows furrowing.

"Then why do you talk back to me?" he asks and the little girl gives a shrug. "Nah, that ain't gonna cut it, Annette." Daryl raises his brow. "Do you know why you eat what we give you?"

"'Cause food is food," she says between chews.

"That's right—," Daryl nods as he straightens in his chair. "If you don't eat you go hungry—,"

"And if I go hungry I get eaten by the walkers—,"

"Nah," Daryl says with a shake of his head. "Look at you—you go hungry and the walkers won't even bother with you." The man reaches out and tickles the child's sides. "They'll say, "Oh, Annette's too skinny—we can't eat her—she'll get stuck in our teeth; she's way too stringy!"" Daryl slides out of his chair as his daughter giggles. He grabs her arm and looks down at it. "Look at that—not an ounce of muscle. Walkers are picky on what they eat." The little girl smiles and presses her tongue against the gap where two front teeth once belonged. "You have to be strong—,"

"Like this, daddy?" the girl asks as she flexes her arms up like a body builder.

Daryl widens his eyes. "Whoa, when'd you get those?" he asks with a bit of a laugh. The girl gives a shrug as Daryl gives a closer examination. Suddenly, he starts groaning and moving rigidly.

"Oh no; it's Daddy Walker!" Annette shrieks out as she pushes away but it's too late. Daryl grabs at her and starts making 'nom-nom," noises on her neck as she screeches and laughs trying to escape the Daddy Walker.

Suddenly, Annette goes limp in his arms. "Annette?" he calls out to her as a grin pulls at her pretend dead lips. "Oh no!" he cries out dramatically as she sticks her tongue out with one final breath. "Daddy Walker did it again," he says with his fake sobs. "Poor Annette, she was so young—," Annette rises from his arms and stretches her arms out to him with moans and groans.

Daryl shakes his head and plays the game now with fear. "It's Baby Walker," he gasps out and Annette lets out a giggle. "Get away from me Baby Walker!" Daryl rises to his feet as he backs away, but Annette races towards him and grabs at his sides. Daryl abruptly falls to the floor and Annette looks down at him with hooded eyes.

She cocks her head. "Daddy?" she says before kneeling beside him. Daryl does his best not to smile. "Oh, daddy, it was just a game," she says as she puts her hands on both sides of his cheeks. "Daddy," she says trying to make him wake up. The little girl furrows her brow and presses her lips together. "Daddy—,"

Daryl grabs her under her armpits and lifts her into the air as she shrieks with laughter and screams. As he lowers her to the floor, he sits up with a smile. "Come here," he says as he taps his lap. The little girl—as dainty as she was—drops herself down on his lap like a sack of bricks making him grunt.

"What are you gonna do?" he asks.

"Eat the cookies," she says. A smile pulls at her cheeks as she looks into her father's eyes. "And then I'll be strong enough to run from the walkers."

"That's right," Daryl says with a nod. He lifts her from his lap and rises to his feet. "If you hurry up you and Judith might still have an hour of daylight left to play," he says. The little girl nods and races back to the table.

"Daryl—," the man turns his head to the hallway linking the kitchen to the rest of the house. A man with salt and pepper hair stands in the hall.

"Uncle Rick!" Annette races towards the man and hugs him.

"Hey, there," he says with a smile. "Don't you look pretty today," he says as he looks down at the yellow dress that was once his own daughter's.

"Do you want some cookies?"

"Uh—,"

"Annette," Daryl says firmly and the little girl shrinks. "Get back to the table," he says as he approaches Rick. The little girl slouches with her steps as she makes her way back. He makes a face. "She doesn't want 'em 'cause they have raisins—,"

Rick smiles with a chuckle as he looks at the small girl pulling herself back onto her chair. "Carl was the same way with peanut butter; couldn't stand to even look at it." Rick looks to Daryl after a moment. "Sorry to bother you… I know this is supposed to be family time, but… somethin' came up," he says.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Daryl says with a shrug. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothin' huge, but it's worth mentioning," Rick says with his eyes wincing. He nudges his head towards the living room and they both walk in. "Judith's said something weird—,"

"What do you mean?" Daryl asks with his eyes narrowing.

Rick takes a long breath and shakes his head. "It-it was worrying," he elaborates. "She said yesterday while she and Annette were playing on the cars there was a man watchin' them." Daryl studies Rick for a moment. "She didn't tell me this 'til about twenty minutes ago." Rick hangs his head. "Kid holds more secrets than the Governor." He shakes his head. "Anyway, I was just wonderin' if maybe Annie said anythin' or has been acting weird lately—,"

"Nah, man," Daryl says with a shake of his head. "She's been fine." He shrugs. "Just havin' issues with raisins lately."

"Okay," Rick says with a bob of his head. He takes a deep breath as he runs a hand through his curly hair. "This really got to me," he says softly.

Daryl nods. "Hasn't been much trouble in awhile; you'd be stupid to not let it get to you," he says.

"It's just strange." He shakes his head. "We were sittin' at the table and Judith just looks up at me and says, "There was a man watchin' me and Annie play yesterday. Was he a friend of yours, daddy?"" Rick curls his nose. "Carl's mouth just hung open—," he shakes his head again, "—I must've looked just the same." He takes a deep breath and raises his brow.

"You okay?" Daryl asks with his head tilting slightly.

Rick nods his head. "Yeah," he says. He begins back to the hallway and stops as he just short. "I don't want the kids outside by themselves anymore—,"

"No doubt," Daryl agrees.

"Do you mind watchin' them tonight? I'm gonna try to sort this out," Rick says.

"Why not just keep 'em in?"

"I don't want the others to panic... might be an imaginary friend... but on the off chance." Rick shakes his head.

"Yeah," Daryl says with nod. "I wasn't planning anythin' anyway," he adds. Ricks lets out a sigh of relief.

"I'll see you later, Annie," Rick announces as he heads down the hall back the way he came in.

"Bye, Uncle Rick!" The little girl twists with a wave as she sits with her knees below her.

"You know the rules; you sit on your butt," Daryl says and the little girl grumbles as she takes her legs out from under her.

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**Please let me know what you think, how I'm doing and what I could do better :)**

**Reviews are much welcomed and always appreciated!**

**~MsBBSue**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Walking Dead series (both comic book and television), and I do not claim to own any of these characters other than my own original character. This is a story I have written and I am in no way, shape, or form making any sort of profit from it. I am poor. I might even be more so now having written this.**

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**Chapter Two:**

Daryl sits reclined on the steps as he watches Judith and Annette race through the narrow street's bend. Three houses made up the small safe zone; one on each side as the third sat just after the bend. The yards all had fences; two of which had tall wood planks keeping the bad out while the house after the bend was chain linked. Daryl lets out a long breath before popping another raisin in his mouth. The house he resided in was home for him and his daughter along with the other misfits; Carol, Tara, and Eugene; the one across housed Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, and Rosita while the one next door was home to Rick, Carl, Judy and Michonne. Daryl chews on another raisin and frowns slightly at the texture of it. It was one Annette had spit out. He makes a face but continues to eat it. There was no use in letting it go to waste; it was already in his mouth.

"Did she like them?" Carol asks as she opens the screen door. The walls in the house were thin, but Carol tried her best to keep her head out of everyone's business as best she could—or, at least when it was convenient.

Daryl raises his brow and swallows. "Yeah," he says.

The woman purses her lips and nods. "Good… because I don't think I'm gonna be baking for a while after this," she says with her shoulders relaxing as she lowers herself to a step below Daryl.

"No more propane?" Daryl asks.

Carol shakes her head. "It must've run out half way through because only a third of the cookies turned out," she says through the side of her mouth.

Daryl lets out a chuckle as he watches Annette fall to the ground dramatically. He shakes his head. "Maybe there's another house on the street that's oven still functions—,"

"It's not a priority," Carol says with a simple shake of her head. She lets out a laugh as Judith pulls Annette to her feet and the two race off with their finger guns. "Now those are two characters," she says with a smile.

"Yeah," Daryl hums before popping another three raisins into his mouth. "Should've seen them yesterday; they were runnin' around screamin' about how a walker got in the well." He waves his hand in the trail they took. "Went flyin' to go see Rick; told him the situation and then ran straight to me tellin' me I needed to get my crossbow 'cause there was a horde headed straight our way." He shakes his head with a smirk. "I don't even think they know what a well is," he adds. Daryl watches them for a moment as they play. "It's like they're practisin'."

"Children copy what they see," Carol says with a shrug. They sit for a moment in silence and Daryl slowly stretches out his hand to Carol. When she looks down, she lets out a chuckle as he places four raisins into her palm. "I take it she didn't want the raisins after all," she says before take a few in her hands.

"She said she wanted oatmeal raisin without the raisins—that'd be oatmeal…" He shakes his head and shoots the last of them in his mouth.

"That's kids for you," Carol says with her eyes falling to the steps before popping the dried fruit into her mouth. As she looks back out to the girls, she shakes her head. "Annette's really starting to look like her," she says softly.

"Tell me about it," Daryl says with a scoff. "Every time she doesn't get her own way she gives me this look that just…" He presses his lips together and stares at the paint on the porch's railing. "It's a good thing she got Beth's looks."

"Oh, come on," Carol says with a smirk. "You're not _that_ bad." She lets out a chuckle as Daryl shakes his head.

"I'd feel bad for her," he says with his brows rising for a moment. "Goin' through life with this mug? That'd make things harder than they ought to be for her," he says before a laugh as Carol shakes her head. "You wanna know the worst thing?"

Carol nods for him to continue.

"She does this one face," he says. "I don't know how she does it, but it's like… when she's up to no good—a trouble looking smirk." Daryl's brow furrows as he lowers his head. "All I see is Merle."

"That's quite the combination," Carol says with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," he says with a nod. Suddenly, Daryl looks to Carol with a grin. "You know what she asked me this morning?"

Carol watches him with a humoured expression. "What?" she asks.

"Why don't I look like Glenn," he says and Carol lets out a laugh. "She thought Glenn was my brother."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her I did have a brother but Glenn wasn't him." Daryl watches the girls race down the street towards Maggie. "There she is," Daryl nearly whispers.

"Were you expecting a visitor?" Carol asks as Maggie lifts Annette into her arms and slowly makes her way down the house.

"Maggie wanted to take Annette for the night," he says.

"I thought she took her only once a week," Carol says as she looks to Daryl with questioning eyes.

"She asked if it could be bumped up." Daryl shrugs. "She _is_ her aunt…"

"You do know you can say no, right?"

Daryl shrugs. "I figured it'd be good for her to spend a little more time with a woman—,"

"_I_ am woman," Carol says and Daryl furrows his brow.

"Do you wanna take Annette for the night?"

"I may be old but I'm not stupid," Carol says with a chuckle. "But thanks for asking." Daryl rolls his eyes and as Maggie approaches, he rises to his feet.

"Auntie Maggie wants to take me swimmin'," Annette blurts out as Maggie lowers her to the ground. Maggie lets out a sweet laugh as the little girl bounces with excitement.

"I asked Rick if it'd be all right if I took Judith with me tomorrow. There's a little pond just down the road from here. Might be good for these li'l rascals to blow off some steam so I figured I'd ask you too—,"

"By asking Annette first?" Daryl looks down at Carol as she watches Maggie.

"I'm sorry… is that a problem—,"

"Now Daryl has to choose between crushing a girl's dreams or letting her go over his better judgement—,"

"It'll be safe—,"

"Uncle Glenn'll be there, daddy!" Annette says.

Daryl presses his lips together. "I think it might rain tomorrow," he says. The air _did_ smell like rain, but it would probably pass before morning.

"Tara said she'd come too," Maggie adds. "Three adults for two children; nothin' could go wrong."

"When'd you ask Rick?" Daryl asks.

"Earlier today after Glenn and I got back from our run—,"

"You might want to ask him again—,"

"Why; is somethin' goin' on?" Maggie furrows her brow as her sapphire orbs bounce from Daryl to Carol and then back.

Daryl gives a shrug. "You might wanna ask him again," he repeats. "I think he'll agree with me on the rain," Daryl says with his eyebrows rising for a moment. "Annette, why don't you and Judith go try to find Carol the biggest stick you can find?"

"I don't wanna—,"

"Whoever finds it first can have Benny for the night," Carol says with a sweet smirk. Benny was an old tattered stuffed bunny rabbit she and Tara found on a run one day last summer. There was only one; both Rick and Daryl saw it as a bribing mechanism for their daughters—however, Carol thought it was in her best interest to keep the stuffed animal in her keepings while it was not in use; less arguments would arise between the youngsters.

As the girls race off, Maggie furrows her brow and raises one foot onto the porch's steps. "What's goin' on?" she asks in a hushed tone.

Daryl's eyes watch as the children race through the street and waits for them to be out of earshot. With his face turning to Maggie, he takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair. "Rick's just a little concerned," he says.

Maggie's eyebrows rise and she lets out a scoff. "That's never a good opener," she says and Carol gives a humoured grin.

Daryl's eyes wander the street for a moment before his cheeks pinch up. "Judith told him some guy was watching her and Annette play yesterday," he says.

"What?" Maggie nearly gasps. "What do you mean—some guy—like… just a random person?"

"I guess," Daryl says with a shrug.

Carol purses her lips for a moment. "I can't remember the last time I saw someone wandering alone—,"

"That's just it," Daryl says. "Nobody wanders around alone anymore." His tongue picks at a piece of raisin stuck in one of his molars. "If Judith was tellin' him the truth, chances are there's more and this guy was scoutin' the place."

"Could have been her imagination," Carol says as her eyebrows perks up. "Kids and imaginary friends go hand in hand."

"What if it wasn't?" Maggie asks quietly.

"We can't take the chance," Daryl says. "That's why Rick's got me looking after the girls while they play. I think he probably got the guys together to go see if anyone's poking around outside the fence."

"He should've brought you," Carol says. "If any one of us can track a person, it'd be you." She shakes her head and crosses her arms. "Sometimes, I wonder what goes on in that brain of his."

"It's water under the bridge now," Maggie says. Her wide crystal blue eyes wander the porch for half a second. "What happens if they find someone?"

"What usually happens?" Daryl asks with a shrug.

"We get up and leave," Carol answers.

Maggie shakes her head and rubs the back of her neck. "I don't think the girls will like that much."

"It's not about whether they like it; it's about what's best for them." Carol's eyebrows knit. "I always wanted to see the Black Hills," she says with a shrug. "Might be a little different in the mountains," she adds as an after thought.

"If anywhere, we'll be headed to Arkansas… maybe Louisiana," Daryl says. With Judith, Rick never wanted to head anywhere with a weather pattern that could be more deadly than a walker. The cold was too much danger.

"Well, let's not think of the worst just yet—we don't know if there was even a person watching, right?" Maggie says with her palms opening towards the two.

Carol smirks as her eyes follow the girls down the street. "As a parent, you hope for the best… but you always think for the worst." Her eyes fall to her feet as her mind settles on a small figure; a face so faded from memory yet instantaneously recognizable swallows her whole. Jealousy was not how she felt towards Rick and Daryl—but envious. Her little Sophia would have grown up to be a wonderful woman; powerful and strong willed.

Carol takes a deep breath as she looks towards the setting sun. It was her duty to make sure these girls were prepared for the world that thrived around them. It was Carol's unspoken oath to keep these children alive. An oath that had been started far too many years ago only to be revived upon Annette's screaming arrival.

"Our main goal is to make sure they're safe," Daryl says and Carol nods absentmindedly. "If you want Annette for the night, that's fine, but just… don't take her swimming until we know exactly what's going on," he says.

"Of course," Maggie says with exaggerated nods. "I'll tell Glenn to lock the door before he goes to bed."

"Thanks," Daryl says through the side of his mouth. Suddenly, he rises and whistles loudly. "Alright!" he calls out. "Times up; let me see what you got!" he hollers out to the girls and before Daryl can breath the two girls are races up the steps with sticks and broken branches in their arms.

As the children place the sticks onto the porch floor, Maggie is all smiles and giggles as she listens to Annette tell a story about how one of the sticks was stuck in the mud. Daryl counts the sticks Judith brought with her and nods his head her way.

"How many you got there, Judy?" he asks.

The girl furrows her brow. "Eight," she answers.

"How many would you have if I took three away?" he asks.

There's a pause as the girl looks down at her sticks. "Five?"

Carol nods. "Very good, Judith," she says. "Your math's getting much better."

"Uncle Daryl's been helping me," the little girl says with a proud smile. In all truth, Daryl was terrible with math, but he understood the basics; subtracting, adding, multiplication, and some division.

"Sounds like Uncle Daryl's a great teacher," Maggie says with a smile.

"Yup!" Judith says with a deep nod. "He even taught me to use my fingers!" The girl lowers her chin. "But it only works if I have enough fingers—,"

"That's when you use your toes," Daryl says with a smirk and Carol smacks him before the two let out a chuckle.

"Who has the longer one?" Maggie asks with an exaggerated shrug. Daryl smirks at the woman. She was good with children—thank God for that because someone had to be.

Annette looks down at her row of sticks and furrows her brow as she looks to Judith's. The girl lowers her chin. "Judith does," she says through the side of her mouth as she points to the longest stick on the porch.

Judith looks to the younger girl and puts a hand on her shoulder. "If you want Benny, you can have him," she says.

Annette shakes her head. "You won him fair and square," the blonde girl murmurs.

"But," Carol adds with a nod and widened eyes at Annette.

"But thank you," Annette says quickly.

Daryl grabs at his pouting daughter and smirks. "You get to spend the night at Auntie Maggie's," he says. "That's better than a stinky old bunny, don't you think?" he asks.

"Benny doesn't stink," Annette defends the stuffed animal.

Daryl rolls his eyes and says, "Sorry."

"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say it at all," Annette says with a nod to each syllable and Carol lets out a laugh.

"Do you have your things packed for the night?" Maggie asks as she looks to the little girl. Annette nods her head. "Alright, if you hurry up, I'm pretty sure Rosita will let you and Judith play with her jewellery for a bit," she says excitedly. Like a bolt of lightening, Judith and Annette race into the house to retrieve Annette's night bag.

"It's getting pretty bad when a child is lecturing you on what you say," Carol says with a smirk as Maggie laughs.

"Daddy; where is it?" a call sounds from behind the screen door.

"Beside the couch—," he lowers his voice, "right in plain sight," he says before rubbing his face. "She wouldn't be doin' that if it weren't for you two," he says with his eyes narrowing.

"We wouldn't have to if you did it in the first place," Maggie chimes.

Carol crosses her arms. "Manners still count—,"

"Remind me next time a walker tries to bite me. If I knew all I had to do was ask him nicely to leave me alone, I would have saved a lot of bolts." he says under his breath. "You can't say, "Please do not shoot me," to a guy starving when you have a bag of cans."

"We're just making sure you're raisin' a decent human being," Maggie laughs.

"And I think I've done a pretty good job." Daryl raises his eyebrows. "I've even hosted a few sleepovers all by myself—,"

"With me on standby," Carol says with an arched eyebrow.

Daryl scoffs. "I ain't completely helpless," he says.

"We know that," Maggie says. "But we also know what girls are like," she adds. "And once Annie hits her teen years, you're gonna be so thankful you've got us—,"

"Speak for yourself," Carol says with a laugh. "Once she's ten, I'm out. I've dealt with an eleven year old before. I'm not stupid enough to do it again," she says as she rises from the step.

Maggie lets out a scoff and rolls her eyes. "Puberty," she groans. "Now, that's gonna be the hardest thing you'll ever get through, Daryl."

"Ain't no point in worrying about it now. She's only six—,"

"The years sneak up on you," Carol says in a hum. "Soon enough, she'll be talking back and you'll be wondering how she became so sassy," she adds with a sweet smile.

Daryl furrows his brow. "Annette's not gonna be like that," he says.

"I'll remember you said that," Carol says.

"Even Beth was a handful," Maggie warns and Daryl looks to her. "Sweet li'l Beth…" Maggie leans forward. "She was a nightmare," she says with her eyes widening and her lips parted. The woman straightens and folds her arms. "Took everythin' my daddy had not to lock her up in the henhouse." Carol lets out a laugh.

"You guys make it sound like she's going to turn into a monster—,"

"Because she just might," Maggie says.

Daryl furrows his brow. "You also said it was going to be difficult looking after a newborn while we were on the road. I did it… and I'll do the whole puberty thing just like the newborn thing; one step at a time—,"

"What's puberty?" The three adults turn their eyes to the screen door as Judith and Annette stand behind it.

"A type of flower," Carol says quickly.

"What does it look like?" Judith asks as she pushes the door open.

"It's ugly," Maggie says with her eyebrows rising. "Do you have your bag?" she asks. Annette holds up the blue duffle bag. "Right on," Maggie says with a smile. "Let's get a move on. If we're lucky, we might even have time to make a fort," she says.

As Judith hurries down the steps, Annette hugs her father before he kisses her forehead. "Have a good time," he says. "I love you," he adds.

"Love you too, daddy," Annette says.

"Bye, Annie," Carol says as the child hugs her.

"See you tomorrow," she says before hopping down the last step of the porch.

"Don't stay up too late!" Daryl calls as the three make their way across the street.

"We won't," Maggie calls back.

"Make sure she eats what you give her—,"

"I will!"

Daryl cups his hands around his mouth. "Goodnight, baby girl!"

"Goodnight, daddy!"

As he lowers himself back down to the step, his eyes catch Carol smirking as she stares at him. "What?" he asks.

"I think the transformation is complete," she says.

"What transformation—,"

"The one where you turn into a concerned father," Carol cheekily hums.

Daryl's eyes narrow as he looks back to his daughter. "Whatever," he murmurs.

* * *

**Please let me know what you think, how I'm doing and what I could do better :)**

**Reviews are much welcomed and always appreciated!**

**~MsBBSue**


End file.
